


Superstition

by Neld



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, F/F, First Kiss, Internalized Homophobia, Modern Era, listen one of them is a witch but it's not the one you think, magic shop au, one chapter near the end will have violence but it will be tagged
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26196466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neld/pseuds/Neld
Summary: Mai receives a gift from a stranger, and suddenly she can't get this girl out of her life or out of her head.  Is that magic, or just plain chemistry?(A Mai-centric modern AU, in honor of that wlw feeling of "Do I hate her or is it a crush?")
Relationships: Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Superstition

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't posted a fanfic in possibly ten years so please be forgiving.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The bell above the door to the dark, dusty little shop gave a dry _dingaling_ , and Mai sighed, turning the page to her book. Her regular customers knew well enough how to help themselves, and she wasn't there to cater to tourists. At one point they had gotten quite a few of those, until Mai had been hired and they'd accumulated enough negative Yelp reviews to drive off anybody who didn't know better. So take that, Mom, someone did find her useful.

Reluctantly, Mai lifted her eyes from the pages of her novel, a dog-eared and disintegrating Poppy Z. Brite one she'd gotten from the used bookstore down the street – chosen partly for the Aesthetic ™, and partly for story, because vampires were cool but Anne Rice was boring and there was no way she was getting within ten feet of a Twilight book. She had cultivated the air in the shop as well as she might, heavy dark velvet drapes barely parted to let in a few pale, dusty beams of light to illuminate the shop as she looked around. There, hovering over the display of crystal skulls and black candles, was a tourist.

Mai could always spot them a mile away. Sometimes they were shy, bookish kids, not unlike her in high school, fresh from finishing their first reading of _Mists of Avalon_ and imagining they were pagans in search of meaning. Sometimes they were superstitious soccer moms who had taken a wrong turn at the spirituality and self-help section in Barnes and Noble and thought they knew something about crystal healing. Sometimes they were college-age hipsters with too much money and too much time, and Mai hated them the most. This one was probably one of the last, somewhere around Mai's age and dressed basically head-to-toe in pink and with a cute bow in her high ponytail. With any luck, she'd get the hint from Mai's customarily cool reception, maybe choose one of those new age healing books before rushing right out the way she'd come.

Mai directed her eyes back to her book, intent on ignoring the girl until absolutely necessary. She'd get the hint. It wasn't like she was subtle, and the store was not designed to be welcoming to the uninitiated. But of course, before too long, Mai heard the soft patter of baby pink ballet flats and sighed, dragging her eyes up from her reading. “Can I help you,” she said, voice dry and monotone.

The girl, rather than being put off, just smiled brightly. Mai would swear she glittered. “Hi!” she said. “Wow, I love your music in here. This is that throat singing, right? It's so relaxing.” It was not designed to be relaxing, Mai thought, her lips pressing together. “Anyway, I was just wondering if you have more crystals? I'm looking for some in particular, with the right _energy_ , you know?”

Mai could have rolled her eyes. Rocks didn't have energy, and she privately thought that anybody who thought so was laying into the drugs a little too heavily. But hey, if this girl wanted to blow all of her budget on some pretty stones, it was her money and Mai's paycheck. She made a production of placing her bookmark in her book and setting it down then slipped off her stool, leading the girl to a section at the back of the store where they kept more of the crystals.

“Your shop is supposed to have the best crystal selection in the city,” the girl rambled as she followed. “I mean, according to the people who know what they're talking about. You come highly recommended. And I have to say, you have the atmosphere down pat! I bet it's like Halloween all year round in here, right?”

Mai didn't dignify that with a response, wondering if she should find it insulting. She was going for Gothic and dark and Romantic and creepy, not glowing pumpkins and plastic skeletons. Rather than replying, she gestured at the neatly organized containers of crystals, then left the girl to it. Mai wasn't really one for vibes, but this girl gave her a weird one. She so rarely interacted with people who were quite this relentlessly cheerful. She returned to her stool and opened her book, keeping an eye and an ear on the girl so she could get her checked out as soon as possible.

Sure enough, a few minutes later the girl flounced back with an armful of purchases: a small handful of crystals (surprisingly, not all rose quartz), a few short black candles, and a couple packages of incense in musky, floral scents. At least she wasn't getting any of the hokey BS books about crystal healing or discovering your past lives. She started ringing it all up, ready to get this girl out of her shop and get back to her solitude and her book.

“My name is Ty Lee,” the girl said, pulling out a glittery pink wallet to produce a few bills. “I have a feeling I'll be back here. Your crystals are all really nice.” She smiled brightly. “What's your name?”

Mai debated not answering, or lying. She wasn't required to wear a nametag, so she could lie. No customer was obliged to her name. Yet despite the weird vibe and the way it felt difficult to meet the girl's eyes, she found herself answering. “Mai,” she said quietly, counting out the change and passing it back. Their fingertips brushed, and she pulled her hand back quickly.

There was a short, awkward, pregnant pause. Mai just wanted this to end. If she was just a little scarier, a little less inviting, maybe it would have been over already. Then Ty Lee's hand moved back over the worn wooden countertop between them, the palest glow visible from under her fingertips. She lifted her hand, revealing a dark stone that still somehow glowed faintly with that pale light. Mai's eyes grew round, since she was quite sure that none of their crystals had ever glowed.

“That one's for you,” Ty Lee told her. “Thank you for the help today, Mai.” With that, she gave another sparkly pink smile and turned to bounce out of the store.

Mai stared after her, mouth slightly open and eyes still round in plain shock. Then she looked back down. The stone rested innocuously on the countertop, no longer glowing. She didn't know what kind of stone it was, had never bothered learning learning the names of all of them. She liked the look of it, though. It was just large enough to fit in the hollow of her palm and tumbled smooth, solid shiny black with faint traceries of dark green. Carefully, she picked it up, and it rested warm in her hand. Maybe she had been seeing things. Stones couldn't just glow, especially not something this dark.

She ran her thumb over it, then slipped it into her sweater pocket, able to feel its warmth and weight against her hip. It felt a little strange to accept a gift from a customer like this, but from Ty Lee … maybe it was alright. Maybe.

* * *

“I think I met a witch yesterday,” Mai said, running her finger around the rim of her water glass.

Once a week, in an exception to her “no cheerful people” rule, she had a standing date with Aang. Their friendship was an unlikely one, born of their mutual connection with her ex and his current boyfriend, Zuko. Aang sought her out first, because of course he did, because he was interested in getting to know Zuko's past. She had been uncertain at first, not sure what kind of context she could provide – she had “dated” Zuko because their parents approved, and sometimes, all that really mattered was appearances. And she loved Zuko, she really did, but the thought of doing anything romantic with him was about as appealing as playing mahjong with her mother's friends while they talked in Mandarin euphemisms about how disappointing she was as a daughter. They had been two square pegs their parents were trying to fit into round holes, joined together by shared experience. It made her all the happier for him when he finally picked up his act enough to land someone like Aang, who was undeniably the nicest person on the planet.

That would have been enough to make her detest hanging out with him, except apparently even she wasn't immune to his friendly charms, and he had posed his first offer to hang out as “getting some dirt on Zuko,” which was always something she was interested in. From the outside, they had very little in common. He had grown up in a commune in the mountains where some hippies took sustainable living to the next level, not in a high-rise in one of the most expensive cities in the country. He hadn't been sent to the best bilingual schools money could buy, or herded into a career path that would have led right to political office. Instead he seemed to be a permanent university student, probably majoring in world peace or something equally ridiculous, who spent his free time volunteering at soup kitchens and animal shelters. He offered the exact opposite of the life that Zuko's father had planned for him, so Mai could see the appeal, if she had been at all interested in men.

“I thought that was the kind of people your shop attracted?” Aang asked, lifting a quizzical eyebrow as he took a bite of his huevos rancheros. “You know, Wiccans and pagans and things. Or anybody who likes that witchy vibe. You are pretty good at it.”

Mai accepted the compliment along with a sip of her water, one black-nailed hand brushing her hair behind her ear. After all, she had worked hard on this image. While she hesitated to commit to full Goth with its obnoxious music, the dark aesthetic came easily. “Yeah, I guess,” she said. “This girl just felt … I don't know. Different.” She hesitated a moment, pushing at her own brunch with her fork. There was literally no one else she could think to ask this last question of without sounding like a lunatic. “Do you believe in magic?”

Aang hummed thoughtfully, always the precursor to a little nugget of wisdom. He was the only one of her friends who took any of this mystical stuff at all seriously, and also the only one who ascribed to any particular brand of religion. Mai didn't think it was a coincidence that the two seemed to go together.

“I think everything has an energy,” he said, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged in his chair. “You know, a vibration. Some people are sensitive to it and can feel it. And some people can even manipulate it. A little bit like the Force, in Star Wars.”

Mai gave him a dry, flat look, flicking water at his face. “You know how stupid that sounds, right? Like telekinesis, or 'these are not the droids you're looking for'?”

Aang just grinned, wide and bright, entirely unaffected by the droplet of water. He knew what to expect from her by now. “I'm just saying! People have different words for that energy. Maybe it's magic or qi or mystical frequencies. There's a rhythm to the universe.” He leaned forward, practically radiating excitement. “You think this girl actually used magic?”

Mai slid her hand into her sweater pocket, letting the stone rest in her palm, still warm and smooth. There wasn't any real logical reason to keeping it on her, or keeping it at all. She just liked the way it felt. She hesitated another moment, then drew it out, putting it on the table between their plates.

Aang took on the air of a scholar, peering curiously at the stone as if it would do something other than being a stone. “I thought it glowed for a second,” Mai said lamely, the words feeling flatter than usual. This was stupid, she was stupid for believing in magic. It was just a rock. It was no more special than any of the other stupid rocks they had in the store. Except that a pretty girl wearing pink had given it to her and it felt like it should mean something.

Mai was surprised to feel relieved that Aang didn't actually touch the stone, instead just nodding and smiling back up at her. His smile was no longer quite so beamy and radiant, instead soft and understanding, like he could see through to the vulnerable parts of her that she kept so carefully concealed behind layers of security.

“I'm not totally sure, but I think it's magic,” he said. “It definitely has something more than just rock energy. Do you think you're going to see her again?”

She didn't answer, instead taking the rock and placing it back in her pocket, nice and safe. At this point, she didn't know which answer she hoped for.

**Author's Note:**

> Phew! Alright, first chapter down, and the rest are in the works. Please let me know how you liked it in the comments, or just leave a kudo if you prefer. I honestly appreciate anybody who takes the time to read this mess.
> 
> PS: While Mists of Avalon was a formative part of my childhood, I have since learned that Marion Zimmer Bradley was legitimately a Bad Person and I cannot recommend her novels. Take my advice and read some Octavia Butler instead. It will heal your soul. Also it has been a long time since I read any Poppy Z. Brite, but the author is trans and the books are gay so if that's your bag, see if you can track down some "trashy" gay vampire books.


End file.
